South Korea Road Network

According to wholevehicles, South Korea has a road network of 87,000 kilometers, of which 65,000 kilometers are paved. National roads cover 12,447 kilometers, and there is a highway network of 5,003 kilometers in length, which is continuously being expanded. Almost all highways are toll roads and serve all parts of the country.

Motorways

South Korea’s highway network.

South Korea has a fairly extensive highway network that connects all major cities and regions of the country, only in the northeast are fewer highways because this area is mountainous and sparsely populated. Highways around the major cities often have 2×3 to 2×5 lanes. Virtually all highways are toll roads, often under concession. Most highways have both a number and name. The highways regularly have large service stations with many facilities, even on highways with low traffic volumes.

List of expressways

History

South Korea has shown itself to be one of the fastest developing countries since the 1970s and the economic boost was reflected in the construction of the highway network. The first expressway in the country was Expressway 1, which runs 416 kilometers from Seoul to Busan. The first section of this opened on December 21, 1968, at the same time as a section of Expressway 120 in Incheon. Expressway 1 was completed in 1970. A number of single-lane branches were also constructed between 1970 and 1975. The second long-haul highway was Expressway 50 which runs east from Seoul to the east coast. Relatively few highways were built in the 1980s, but construction boomed from the mid-1990s, with 2001 being the peak year when 519 kilometers of new highways were opened.

• According to Abbreviationfinder, Seoul is the capital of South Korea.

All large and small cities are connected by highways. At the same time, a gigantic highway network of hundreds of kilometers has been built around Seoul, as the city’s population explodes, with numerous suburbs with more than 1 million inhabitants. The last section of Seoul’s ring road, the Expressway 100, was opened in 2007. The highway network is currently being expanded and is one of the most modern and densest networks in the world.

Traffic intensities

Traffic intensities are quite high around the major cities, especially in Seoul, where traffic volumes exceed 200,000 vehicles per day. The intensities are quite low around the other cities, this is also because most other South Korean cities have few or no suburbs and highways mainly go around the cities and therefore do not serve as commuter routes. The highway network is mainly built for through traffic. The intensities on the main axes are usually not very high, between 20,000 and 50,000 vehicles, on Expressway 1 even higher, where 100,000+ occurs in rural areas. In sparsely populated areas, intensities between 10,000 and 20,000 are common, occasionally lower.

Signage

The signage on the highways is with green signs and white letters, and they use a mix of European and American influences. Almost all signposts are bilingual; English and Korean. Portals often consist of several separate signs per lane, which gives a somewhat messy road image. The road number is shown in the American example in a blue shield with a red crown. The distances are in meters and kilometers, and the exit symbol is also used. Asian Highwaysare also sometimes indicated, such as the AH-1. This is in a white box with a black frame and black letters. Exit numbers are in white letters in a black box. Road signs are generally similar to those in Europe. Road names are sometimes written out in full. Major roads have a blue oval with the road number in it without a prefix.

Road numbering

Since 2001, the highways have been renumbered to a system similar to Interstate Highways in the United States. North-south roads have odd numbers, east-west roads have even numbers. Two-digit roads have national importance, three-digit roads are branches where the first two numbers correspond to the main route. Ring roads have three digits where the first digit corresponds to the local zip code. Numbers between 70 and 99 are reserved for an eventual reunification with North Korea. There is one exception, the Expressway 1 which has kept its old number as it is considered the main highway in the country.

Urban Expressways

In addition to the national Expressway network, there is also an urban Expressway network. These are located in the 5 major cities of Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon. A number of these urban highways are also located in the Gyeonggi region, around Seoul. They are known by their name, but also have a number, which is represented in an octagonal white shield with a blue frame and blue lettering.

Main roads

South Korea has a highly developed main road network, with numerous grade separated highways with 2×2 or more lanes, sometimes running directly parallel to the toll highways. They do, however, have many more exits and fewer facilities, such as emergency lanes and filling stations directly along the road. Underlying highways can often be wide, especially on the fringes of major cities where there are six to ten lane highways. These are often ground floor.

Road numbering

The National Highways have even numbers for east-west routes and odd numbers for north-south routes. They are often longer than the highways, the longest route is Highway 5 with 1252 kilometers. There are a total of 3 National Highways over a thousand kilometers in length, including their theoretical route in North Korea. The road numbers are shown in white letters in a blue oval.

Asian Highways

Bridges

South Korea has many bridges, especially in the coastal region where many islands are connected to each other and to the mainland. In addition, the Seoul region has a large number of bridges spanning the Han River. The concentration of bridges is particularly high in the archipelagos west and south of the coast of Korea.